MAY 2012
Having a profound interest in wildlife conservation, we had a kind of excitement that was triggering our thoughts of encounters with wildlife as we had been continuously making way into the dense forests of Bhojpur. A few days earlier, we were informed by our mentors in Kathmandu that the friends in Khotang had seen a Himalayan black bear. We were filled with envy for them and wished
that we would be as lucky as them.
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| My team |
The previous day, we had lost our way into the jungle as the pre existing trail inside the forest disappeared mid-way. We had returned back to a nearby village leaving our work on the plot for the next day. Starting off again the next day, we managed to get to the point by taking an alternate route. We were about to complete the field work when suddenly a strange sound caught our ears. For a minute or two, we could not make sure what it actually was. But as the sound grew louder and seemed to be coming right towards us, we confirmed that it was a Himalayan black bear. We were excited at the beginning, but when we realized that the bear was coming downhill towards us, our excitement turned to fear. While we hastily gathered the field equipment, we noticed the tree leaves moving some 20 meters uphill. This clearly meant time had wanted us to take immediate decisions. In no time, we ran away as fast as we could. I was in half pants, got scratched by thorns and developed wounds on my thigh that remained till the end of the journey. We kept running till we reached a nearby village. It was undoubtedly a dangerous moment.
When we shared the incident to other teams, it was revealed that our friends in Khotang had not actually seen any black bear as was reported earlier. They had been simply warned by the villagers to remain alert in the forests. In our case, it was a different and noticeably an adventurous moment.
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